# An early, small-bodied Homo lineage related to H. habilis left Africa before H. erectus, and H. floresiensis…

> Most likely: An early, small-bodied Homo lineage related to H. habilis left Africa before H. erectus, and H. floresiensis is its late descendant.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/homo-floresiensis/answers/ANS0CZNMM8W678M/an-early-small-bodied-homo-lineage-related-to-h-habilis-left  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
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[Questions](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions)[Homo floresiensis, the origin of the Flores "hobbits"](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/homo-floresiensis)[From which earlier hominin did Homo floresiensis descend?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/homo-floresiensis/questions/QST0CZNMHTR12T1/from-which-earlier-hominin-did-homo-floresiensis-descend)Answer

Answer · Homo floresiensis, the origin of the Flores "hobbits"

# An early, small-bodied Homo lineage related to H. habilis left Africa before H. erectus, and H. floresiensis…

An early, small-bodied Homo lineage related to H. habilis left Africa before H. erectus, and H. floresiensis is its late descendant.

**Most likely** Answers **1** questionPublished0

## Where it stands

**Most likely** Its tests partly supported it: one piece of evidence for, two against. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

## What it predicts

- Primitive traits of the wrist, shoulder, foot and pelvis are inherited, not size-related.
- Small-bodied hominins older than H. erectus exist somewhere between Africa and Flores.

## What would rule it out

- Erectus-specific derived traits in the oldest Flores fossils, or demonstration that the primitive traits follow from small size.

## Evidence 1 for · 2 against

[Cranial, dental and postcranial phylogenies support a sister relationship with H. habilis.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/homo-floresiensis/evidence/EVD0CZNMMGP6FQ0/cranial-dental-and-postcranial-phylogenies-support-a-sister)

Supported

FOR

[No pre-erectus hominin is known outside Africa.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/homo-floresiensis/evidence/EVD0CZNMMRG6ACJ/no-pre-erectus-hominin-is-known-outside-africa)

Supported

AGAINST

[The Mata Menge tooth with Javanese H. erectus affinities.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/homo-floresiensis/evidence/EVD0CZNMN0A499Z/the-mata-menge-tooth-with-javanese-h-erectus-affinities)

Suggestive

AGAINST

## The questions it answers

[From which earlier hominin did Homo floresiensis descend?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/homo-floresiensis/questions/QST0CZNMHTR12T1/from-which-earlier-hominin-did-homo-floresiensis-descend)

Most likelyAn early Asian Homo erectus population reached Flores and evolved small body and brain size by insular…

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). An early, small-bodied Homo lineage related to H. habilis left Africa before H. erectus, and H. floresiensis… [Answer ANS0CZNMM8W678M]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0CZNMM8W678M
```

Key

**ANS** 0CZNMM8W678M

Kind

Answer · hypothesis

Origin

Published

Version

1

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